State-funding for Pre-K in Montana Gains Momentum

Jun 13, 2014

Pre-K is an excellent opportunity for Montana to improve the lives of children, families, and strengthen our communities, and press and policymakers are starting to take note.

Montana Budget and Policy Center's work on the benefits of pre-Kindergarten has been cited in several newspapers around the state lately, as evidence to why state-funded pre-K would benefit Montana's children.

The Montana Budget & Policy Center recently issued a report that concluded that pre-kindergarten schooling raises IQs, enhances math and reading schools in later grades, lowers dropout rates and decreases the likelihood that students will abuse alcohol or drugs and end up in trouble with the law later in life.

Dropouts, drug abuse and crime are all societal ills that come with heavy costs to our justice system and publicly funded rehabilitation programs. Spending a little money providing preschool to all the state’s children now could save a lot of money down the road.

[Superintendent] Watson shared copies of a report by the Montana Budget & Policy Center, which made the case that pre-kindergarten education can help Montana children, particularly the 20 percent who live in poverty.

Benefits include raising children's IQs and improving reading and math skills, the report said. Children are less likely to drop out, become delinquent, be arrested and get into drugs. Pre-kindergarten schools help working parents and help businesses keep their employees.

A report by the Montana Budget and Policy Center found that a universal program would begin paying for itself in nine years and cost $88 million a year to run once fully phased in. By 2050, the costs are estimated at $212 million, far less than the $1.7 billion in anticipated benefits.

A comprehensive look at the economics of early childhood education in Montana can be found in the Montana Budget and Policy Center’s 10-page report “Pre-Kindergarten: An Investment in Montana’s Future” (Fall 2013).

With solid research backing up the push for universal pre-kindergarten education in Montana, the initiative is being embraced by local, state and government officials, social welfare agencies, nonprofits, churches and charities and a host of others.